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Top Olympic Bid Stories of 2011: #1 PyeongChang wins 2018 Olympic Winter Games bid

GamesBids.com presents the fourth annual Top Ten list of Olympic Bid Stories for 2011. These stories impacted the course of Olympic bids, or the Olympic bid process, and formed interesting plotlines for the year. We’ll run them down from 10th to 1st during the holiday season.

Top Olympic Bid Stories of 2011: #1 PyeongChang wins 2018 Olympic Winter Games bid

It’s no real surprise that this story came in at #1 on our list – nothing else this year quite matched the storybook ending of this 10-year long Cinderalla story.

It was third-time luck for PyeongChang and South Korea’s dream to host the Olympic Winter Games. After barely missing a first-round victory and eventually being edged by Vancouver at the end the 2010 Games campaign while racing as the most ‘under’ of underdogs; then following a similar scenario while losing to Sochi for the 2014 Games – PyeongChang finally pulled off the most lopsided victory in several years.

This story was supported by several subplots including:

– that of Special Ambassador Jin-Sun Kim’s “thorny road”, the dreamer who launched the bid for his province while he was Governor , leading the first two bids and playing an important role in the third when he broke down in tears during the final presentation;

– the battle of the ice princesses featuring Korea’s newly crowned Olympic gold medalist Yuna Kim playing a visible role in PyeongChang’s bid against Munich’s bid chief and figure skating champion Katarina Witt;

– the heartwrenching tale of Toby Dawson (#4 on our list) whom you couldn’t help but root for as he asked for you to suppport PyeongChang;

– the impressive and unexpected presence of Communications Director Theresa Rah who took the reins in the all-important final presentation (as well as many others throughout the campaign), unusually portraying a strong female lead in a bid from a male-dominated Eastern culture.

– the epic battle between “new horizons” and “returning to the roots of winter sports”.

But in Durban on July 6, 2011 PyeongChang finished the story and with a signature proved that what seems impossible can become reality.

On that, GamesBids.com wishes you all a prosperous New Year!

A senior producer and award-winning journalist covering Olympic bid business as founder of GamesBids.com as well as providing freelance support for print and Web publications around the world. Robert Livingstone is a member of the Olympic Journalists Association and the International Society of Olympic Historians.

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